Man dates mom on Internet

OK, this is just too funny. It’s a bit old, but I saw it for the first time today.
Man dates gal on internet for six months — and it turns out she’s his mother!

I’m going to California (Part I)

Nearly a year ago my friend Kara, formerly of Loveland Colorado and now living in beautiful San Diego, got married. My sister and I (Kara’s actually Lindsey’s friend) were going to go. We bought tickets, had our bags packed and were headed for an early flight out of DIA (which incidentally I was in trouble for scheduling. Appearantly Lindsey thinks all vacations should start at 4pm).

The night prior to our depature I recieved a phone call from my sister. Her husband, Bob (yeah, we have the same first name – It’s not THAT strange), had fallen off a bicycle and hurt his knee. We might have to cancel the trip. I waited on pins and needles for her next phone call. When she called she had bad news. Bob had broken his knee and was going to have to surgery – she couldn’t go to San Diego. I could have went by myself, but it didn’t sound like fun, so after multiple cursing, hitting walls and yelling at the dogs I called the airlines and changed our tickets.

Later I found out the actual situation. Bob had been working late and Lindsey, as the wonderful wife she is, had taken him some food. The plant where he works is gated and one of his co-workers suggested Bob ride his bicycle out to the gate. Bob rode out to the gate and attempted to balance his supper on the handlebars of the bicycle. His balancing attempt failed and he planted his foot to regain his balance. Unfortunately, he lost more than his balance, his knee shattered, an ambulance was called, surgery was performed with multiple pins and our trip was cancelled. All this for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.

Now fast forward 11 months. Kara’s wedding is (obviously) over, but we still have tickets for San Diego. We are finally going to see her. Booked the tickets this weekend and requested the time off work. I’ve never been to California, so I am excited. Pray that there are no more freak accidents this time.

Music Pick of the Week – Endless Blue

A couple years ago I met a friend at work who was a swing dancing fanatic. She was constantly consumed by swing dancing and made it sound like so much fun I asked her to help teach me. While ultimately I didn’t feel too comfortable either dancing or fitting in with the swing dancing crowd, it was an interesting experience. My friend, Andrea, introduced me to many different kinds of music. One of the songs we danced to was Peggy Lee’s version of the Little Willie John’s hit “Fever”.

This brings us to this week’s music pick, Milwaukee’s Endless Blue. A few months ago Brian over at Coverville played a mashup of Fever done by Endless Blue. It is a great version of the classic song. If you are a fan of trip-hop or of the classic jazz song Fever I recommend listening to this rendition.

You just can’t be good at everything

WebProNews has an article about Walmart’s attempt to get in touch with the MySpace crowd. Walmart’s reason for doing this? Their “flagging fortunes in the hotly competitive apparel market”. This is just the latest salvo in Walmart’s attempt to capture some of the apparel market. Other changes have been wood floors under the apparel section, a new line of ‘urban’ women’s clothes (like a bunch of hicks from Arkansas would know ‘urban’ if it kicked them in the teeth) and an article in an issue of Vogue.

The most interesting thing, to me, is I have not seen one article concerning the real problem with clothes bought at Walmart. Almost every store branded clothing item I have bought from Walmart was of completely inferior quality. Walmart runs a well documented business model of constantly forcing their vendors to supply products at increasingly lower prices. When textile manufacturers are forced to produce at lower prices they use inferior quality materials or do inferior workmanship. When Levi Strauss introduced their ‘Signature’ line into Walmarts three years ago they had to produce a lower quality product. As a result, I imagine that Walmart Levi’s do not last as long as Levi’s bought other places.

Now, I’m not Walmart’s clothing demographic by any means, but purchasing quality goods is as important to a teenage girl as it is to me. No one wants to purchase clothes that are going to fall apart after the 2nd washing. Walmart is the low-cost leader. They have built their reputation and their brand on being the low-cost leader. Along with being low-cost comes a reputation for having poor quality goods. While many of Walmart’s store brand items are OK, many of them are of very poor quality.

The one thing I REALLY don’t understand about all of this is why. Why does Walmart feel the need to dominate EVERY aspect of retail sales? Why doesn’t the Walmart management understand that they can’t control everything? Walmart is the number one retailer in the world, they offer brand name products at the lowest available prices, they have become the largest food retailer in the US, what kind of audacity makes the Walmart board of directors think they can now take over designer clothing? Walmart, stick with what you’re good at and let go of what you aren’t.

ATVs are Cool

Finally bought an ATV this spring. Not anything too exciting, but a good starter bike.

It’s a 1988 Yamaha Warrior (YFM350). Not sure yet if it’s a long term machine or not. I like the Warrior for a variety of reasons and it seems to be a good trail bike, but there were some design changes between 88 and 89. I’m thinking about selling it and getting a newer one. If anyone out there has links or information on what changed with the 89 models and why, or what parts swap between Blasters, Banshees and Warriors, let me know – it will make my decision easier.